1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates a dog exercising device and, more particularly, is concerned with a bicycle-mounted swingarm device for exercising a dog while riding a bicycle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Over the years, many people have exercised with their dogs by taking walks. However, walking does not provide sufficient exercise for people nor dogs unless undertaken for an extended period of time. In more recent years, more and more people have begun to jog and ride bicycles as a way to exercise with their dogs.
A typical way a person has exercised a dog while riding a bicycle has been to pedal the bicycle in the customary manner while holding the dog's leash in one hand or attaching the leash to the handlebars or other portion of the bicycle frame. While this manner of exercising provides the person and dog with a sufficient workout, it may expose the rider and dog to possible injury should the dog suddenly pull away from the bicycle or bump into the wheels or pedals.
Bicycle-mounted dog exercising devices designed to overcome these problems are known in the prior patent art. Representative examples of the prior art dog exercising devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,364 to Boncela and U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,269 to Arntzen. While these prior art devices may function reasonably well under the limited range of conditions for which they were designed, each device appears to embody one or more drawbacks which makes it less than an optimum design for the intended use and for avoiding the above-described problems.
For instance, the prior art device of Boncela employs a stand-off bar which is stationarily mounted at an inner end to the bicycle frame and extends laterally therefrom. The dog's leash is releasably secured to an outer end of the stand-off bar. A drawback of this device is that the stationarily-mounted stand-off bar limits the dog to running along only one side of the bicycle.
The prior art device of Arntzen employs an inner bar stationarily mounted to the bicycle frame, an outer bar to which the dog's leash is attached, and a resilient spring mounting the outer bar to the inner bar such that the outer bar can move relative to the inner bar in response to exertion of a force thereon by the dog's leash. A drawback of this device is that, although it is less restrictive than the device of Boncela, it still only slightly increases the range of movement for the dog.
Consequently, a need exists for a bicycle-mounted dog exercising device which will alleviate the above-mentioned problems and drawbacks of the prior art.